"..."

Chen Fan glanced at Wang Mazi’s retreating back and took the bag Lame Monkey handed him. The bag contained the Ghost Stones the group had just turned over. Of all the Chen Family station chiefs, he only knew Wang Mazi.

In his memories, his predecessor had been very grateful to this Wang Mazi. This was because his predecessor had once overheard Wang Mazi say, "Actually, the young master is quite pitiful." Because of this, his predecessor had felt a sense of gratitude and had specifically looked into Wang Mazi’s background.

’Grateful?’ 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He weighed the bag in his hand and chuckled softly without a word.

The six of them weren’t very well-off; the bag contained a total of 176 Ghost Stones.

Added to the 200 Ghost Stones he already had, that made for a total of 376.

This exceeded the 320 Ghost Stones required to build the City Wall. He could now build it before nightfall, making the coming night a little safer.

’But...’

Wang Kui alone had contributed 137 Ghost Stones, yet these six combined had only contributed 176. He didn’t know if they were really that much poorer than Wang Kui, or if they had kept some for themselves.

He didn’t say anything more.

He just looked at the City Wall blueprint on his panel.

To construct this building, he only needed to expend Ghost Stones; no other materials were necessary.

Chen Fan stood in the pouring rain, slowly closing his eyes.

The next moment—

Hundreds of Ghost Stones floated into the air and shattered one after another with a series of CRACKS. The milky-white liquid they released formed a river of stars in the air.

Centered on the Ghost Fire, a spectral, ring-shaped City Wall composed of white lines suddenly rose from the ground. As the milky-white liquid flowed into this spectral form, the illusion of the City Wall began to solidify and take shape.

The wind still blew.

The rain still fell.

But a circular City Wall, having appeared out of nowhere, now stood firmly protecting the Ghost Fire within. It was composed of massive stone blocks.

It was five meters high and three meters wide.

Just looking at it, one could sense its ancient, heavy presence.

It looked quite sturdy.

This was the most expensive structure he had built yet: the stone City Wall!

A circular stone wall with an internal diameter of ten meters, exactly the size of a Level 1 Ghost Fire’s safe zone.

There was no gate; it was a seamless whole.

Or rather, it had a hidden gate. He could use his will to retract any section of the wall into the ground, creating an opening for entry and exit. This ensured there were no weak points, without impeding access.

And—

on the inner side of the City Wall, there were four sets of stone steps leading to the top.

"..."

Chen Fan walked up the stone steps to the City Wall alone. The solid feeling under his feet was deeply satisfying.

The base of the City Wall was three meters wide.

It was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top.

The top wasn’t pointed; instead, it formed a solid, two-meter-wide walkway.

The outer edge of the walkway was lined with a chest-high parapet, and the inner side even had soldiers’ niches for people to rest in.

"Not bad."

After a moment.

Standing on the City Wall looking down at the entire camp, Chen Fan suddenly smiled. He rested his hands on the parapet and looked out at the Farmland beyond the wall. This was the first time he had viewed the camp from this perspective.

The Ghost Fire was now a Level 2 Ghost Fire, with a safe zone diameter of 20 meters.

The reason he had built a City Wall with only a 10-meter diameter was simply that he hadn’t had enough resources to protect the entire camp. But now, it seemed he had serendipitously made the right choice.

If the City Wall had been built right at the edge of the camp, he would have had almost no external line of sight.

A Ghost Object attack would have been right at their doorstep.

But now.

He had a clear view. He could stand on the City Wall and see Ghost Objects the moment they broke into the camp. There was some distance between the edge of the camp and the City Wall, and this distance gave them enough time to react.

A choice made out of necessity due to a lack of resources had turned out to be a rather wise decision.

Also—

He looked at the panel for the "City Wall" structure.

To upgrade this entire City Wall to Level 2 would require 1,600 Ghost Stones. There was no way he could afford that for now.

The City Wall was already taller than the Arrow Towers.

This meant the Arrow Towers couldn’t attack anything outside the City Wall.

However, the "City Wall" had several reserved slots that could be used to place various City Defense Buildings. He could directly move the two Arrow Towers from beside the camp’s Ghost Fire onto the City Wall.

No additional resources were required.

All it took was a thought.

The next moment!

The two Level 2 Arrow Towers beside the camp’s Ghost Fire suddenly dissolved into milky-white light. Immediately after, at the north and south ends of the City Wall, Arrow Tower Illusions appeared and gradually solidified.

In the blink of an eye.

The two Level 2 Arrow Towers from inside the camp were now installed on the City Wall.

For him, who could directly see the building panels, this was an extremely simple matter. But for a native Architect, it was pure fantasy—something completely impossible.

He had 56 Ghost Stones left.

Chen Fan sighed as he looked at the patch of Farmland outside the City Wall. The Farmland was five meters long and five meters wide; if he squeezed it in, it could just barely fit inside the walls.

But this couldn’t be relocated.

’I just hope there aren’t too many Ghost Objects tonight. The crops I planted won’t be mature for another two days. I’d hate for the Farmland to be destroyed before the fruit is even ripe.’

...

"..."

While dismantling the Wooden House, Wang Mazi stared blankly at Chen Fan’s back on the City Wall. Even in the downpour, the man’s posture was ramrod straight. He hadn’t said another word, but Wang Mazi felt as if he could see a torrent of emotions in that silhouette.

After a difficult swallow, he took a deep breath as he gazed at the several-meter-high, incredibly thick stone wall, then turned to his men and shouted.

"Pack the bedding and everything into the ceramic vats and seal them! Be careful not to let any water in."

"Station Chief Qi, you need to pick up the pace over there, too."

Station Chief Qi.

The last of the three station chiefs Wang Kui had brought back.

The Wooden House was quite simple, so dismantling it wasn’t difficult. The main challenge was protecting things like the bedding from getting soaked.

"You got it!"

Station Chief Qi nodded decisively and, with brisk movements, rolled up his sleeves and started dismantling the house in the pouring rain. His eyes were filled with motivation and hope. The moment the City Wall rose, a glimmer of hope had appeared in everyone’s eyes.

A glimmer of hope for survival.

This was an Architect!

The kind of Architect that every faction was willing to pay a great price to recruit. As long as they had enough resources, they could create miracles!

Any faction that wanted to rise up absolutely needed an Architect. A faction without one was like rootless duckweed, liable to vanish at any moment.

...

And at that moment—

Chen Fan had already walked out of the City Wall and placed one of his Beast Traps next to the Farmland. He had to protect his Farmland as much as possible.

"My little sprouts..."

He crouched beside the Farmland, murmuring to the tender little shoots breaking through the soil, "You have to try your best to survive. A little rain like this won’t crush you, right?"

The seeds had already sprouted.

They looked reasonably sturdy and hadn’t been scattered by the wind and rain.

But they probably wouldn’t withstand the impact of a Ghost Tide.